Feds: 9 charged with blocking DC reproductive health clinic

By MICHAEL BALSAMO
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nine people were charged with federal civil rights offenses after they traveled to the nation’s capital and then blocked access to a reproductive health center and streamed it on Facebook. The charges include violations of a federal law known as the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or the FACE Act, which prohibits physically obstructing or using the threat of force to intimidate or interfere with a person seeking reproductive health services. Prosecutors say the group traveled from across the Northeastern U.S. and conspired to block patients from entering the clinic in Washington, D.C.